(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and test kits for identifying Alzheimer's disease in a living or deceased human, particularly those exhibiting dementia. In particular the present invention relates to a method which can detect abnormally high levels of protein particles including neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaque and vascular amyloids in cerebrospinal fluid which are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.
(2) Prior Art
The only method presently known for positively identifying Alzheimer's disease is by autopsy of patients who have died to obtain brain tissue which is stained with a dye to highlight proteins, including amyloids and neurofibrillary tangles which are characteristic of this disease. At present Alzheimer's disease is not a treatable dementia whereas many types of dementia are treatable. Unfortunately the symptoms of dementia patients with diseases of origin other than Alzheimer's disease are quite similar to Alzheimer's disease and thus there is a need to identify those who have Alzheimer's disease.
The prior work of others has attempted to characterize cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as a basis for distinguishing Alzheimer's disease. Thus Townsend, L. et al in a poster at the March 1985 meeting of the American Society for Neurochemistry described the use of thioflavine S to stain particles from CSF. This method was not adquately quantitative and therefore could not reliably identify Alzheimer's disease since CSF of normal patients also contains brain amyloids and neurofibrillary tangle proteins. The need for a method which reliably identifies Alzheimer's disease is well known.